How to elect a woman president

Expect them to hate you because you’re beautiful.

When Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat, was running for office, her advisers discovered something surprising. Voters, especially female voters, said in focus groups that they thought she looked too gorgeous to be a governor.

Their solution? Her advisers shot photographs of Granholm in black-and-white, running them in her television ads instead of video. “Women could not envision a female governor with her beauty,” one of her advisers said. “When we took it down a notch, people said, ‘Okay, she can be governor.’ ”

The lesson? Voters can find a woman attractive, but they don’t necessarily think that translates into gravitas. Another case: Sarah Palin, who learned that having delegates wear “hot VP” buttons at a national party convention does not translate automatically into votes in November.